aworks :: "new" american classical music

Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine (2002). Eric Whitacre /grammy nomination/

Eric Whitacre's Light & Gold is nominated for a choral performance Grammy.

Here are the contemporary composition nominees, from the overall classical list:

• Aldridge, Robert: Elmer Gantry Robert Aldridge & Herschel Garfein [Naxos] 
• Crumb, George: The Ghosts Of Alhambra George Crumb Track from: Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 15 [Bridge Records, Inc.] 
• Friedman, Jefferson: String Quartet No. 3 Jefferson Friedman Track from: Jefferson Friedman: Quartets [New Amsterdam Records] 
• Mackey, Steven: Lonely Motel - Music From Slide Steven Mackey [Cedille Records] 
• Ruders, Poul: Piano Concerto No. 2 Poul Ruders Track from: Music Of Poul Ruders, Vol. 6 [Bridge Records, Inc.]

Glassworks (1981). Philip Glass /marimba-ized/

Via Grim's Hall, music of Philip Glass as played by Evan Chapman on the marimba:

Einstein on the Beach (1976). Philip Glass /u of m/

Einstein preview performances are scheduled for January at the University of Michigan. 

Electric Counterpoint (1987). Steve Reich /jonny greenwood version/

Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead plays a mellow version of Electric Counterpoint: 

The Woodmans (2010). David Lang /keeper, herrmann, not the woodsman etc./

I've been listening this week to the soundtrack to The Woodmans by David Lang. Last night, I finally watched the Bernard Herrmann documentary. All of this makes me ponder why the music of Herrmann is so listenable and so effective as a soundtrack. I think it's both the interesting timbral effects as well as the cellular, repetitive nature of his music. 

The Lang soundtrack is interesting texture but lacks rhythmic pulse. I'm not usually ambivalent about what I like I can't decide if this is a keeper. Although to be fair, unlike the Herrmann classics, I haven't actually seen The Woodmans before listening to the music. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 94%.

Note: The Woodmans is not to be confused with The Woodsman.

Related articles

• Vertigo (1958). Bernard Herrmann /a film score handbook/ (rgable.typepad.com)
• For Bernard Herrmann (therestisnoise.com)

Dolmen Music (1979). Meredith Monk /call for donations/

(Monk on Getty Images via @daylife)

DJ Shadow, Gabriel Prokofiev, Vijay Iver, Lee Ranaldo, Björk, and others to remix and re-interpret music by Meredith Monk via a project on United States Artists:

Related articles

• The Voice of a Banshee (lyingliestellingsecrets.wordpress.com)
• DJ Shadow: Scale it Back (itsnicethat.com)

Sonata (1939). Paul Creston /goodbye, 20th century/

(Paul Creston)

I stumbled onto the Analekta label at Amoeba Music and I have to say I am impressed with their marketing:

1. The miscellaneous Radiohead bin at Amoeba had a CD with the prominent photo of conductor Edwin Outwater. This turned out to be a new release from the label with compositions by Nico Muhly, Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead, and Richard Parry from Arcade Fire. The recording was also available in the new classical releases section, for the more traditional shopper.
2. The CD came with a $9.99 credit for additional downloads at the Analekta site.
3. That site had a search facility including the ability to filter by era. My first reaction was to complain that "Contemporary" was separate from "Twentieth Century" so I was going to have to go to the trouble of doing two separate searches. Then I realized, this is a proper demarcation. Much if not all music from the last century is no longer contemporary.
4. To balance the truly contemporary music on the purchased CD, I eventually downloaded music written by Paul Creston (played by Duo Gaulin-Riverin) and Duke Ellington (played by Duo Campion-Vacho).

Related articles

• Music: Edwin Outwater's research in (rhythm and) motion (macleans.ca)
• Radiohead Silence (slate.com)
• 90+ (1994). Elliott Carter /goodbye, late twentieth century/ (rgable.typepad.com)

aworks ordered list :: best of 2011 recordings

(John Fahey)

• Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You: The Fonotone Years, 1958-1965. John Fahey.
  • "89" Metacritic 
  • "Fahey was capable of fine, bewitching things on a steel-stringed acoustic guitar, and there are performances scattered across these five discs"  NY Times
• John Adams: Son of Chamber Symphony/String Quartet. John Adams & St. Lawrence String Quartet.
  • "a a fine example of his compositional style" Readings
• Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue/Piano Concerto. Riccardo Chailly, Stefano Bolani & Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.
  • "Full of joy, and the cheekiness inherent in Gershwin’s music, this blend of jazz and classical has never been so beautiful." Readings
• Swinging into the 21st - Wynton Marsalis
  • "Could there possibly have been a musician on the planet more maniacally productive in 1999 than Wynton Marsalis?" NY Times
• Friedman: String Quartets No2. 2, 3; Remixes. Chiara String Quartet; Matmos
  • "Both quartets have an essentially neo-Romantic frame, but Mr. Friedman heads in unexpected directions, with hints of neo-medievalism, modernist effects and occasional rock influences." NY Times
• Gordon: Timber. Slagwerk Den Haag
  • "You can think of “Timber” as Steve Reich’s “Music for Pieces of Wood” gone mad, with gradual rhythmic evolution and good old-fashioned compositional manipulation rather than Reichian phasing as its engine." NY Times
• Ives: Violin Sonatas. Hilary Hahn, Valentina Lisitsa
  • "References to folk and popular songs are filtered through Ives’s spiky, idiosyncratic brand of modernism, but this is no academic exercise: it’s music to love as much as to admire." NY Times
• Rose of Sharon: 100 Years of American Music. Ensemble Phoenix Munich, Joel Frederiksen
  • "From a seemingly unlikely source — the Munich-based Ensemble Phoenix, directed by an American, Joel Frederiksen — this was the gem among recordings of Americana this year." NY Times

Symphony No. 3 (1939). Roy Harris /grammy hall of fame/

(Boston Symphony Orchestra)

The 1940 RCA Victor recording of Roy Harris' Symphony No. 3 by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra has been added to the Grammy Hall of fame collection. Other artists of note include the Rolling Stones, Doris Day, Santana, Cole Porter, and Leroy Carr. Via hypebot.

Amazon is the only online source I found so far.

Adagio for Strings (1936). Samuel Barber /adapted from the string quartet/

(Wikipedia)

James Oestreich reviews the New Century Chamber Orchestra in NY:

Arriving next at Barber’s Adagio for Strings (adapted from the String Quartet), they appeared to have settled into smoother phrasing and a more homogeneous sonority.

My first thought was that the parenthetical explanation was superfluous but maybe it's relevant, given NCCO is a string ensemble, not a full orchestra nor a quartet.

Related articles

• Music Review: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and New Century Chamber Orchestra - Review (nytimes.com)
• November 5 - Barber's Adagio (drelectromix.wordpress.com)
• New Century Chamber Orchestra with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg @ Massry Center, 11/12/11 (timesunion.com)